Sergeant John Forge (service number63292-94758-JF) was a veteran non-commissioned officer in Foxtrot Company, 13th Battalion, in an unknown regiment of the UNSC Marine Corps.[1][4][5] Although he excelled in tactics and combat, his repeated acts of insubordination caused him to receive three demotions, with infractions such as fighting with an officer, which resulted in 2.4 years in jail time, and striking a superior officer. He sported an ace of spades playing card attached to his left shoulder pauldron, and also carried a combat knife he named "Lucy".[6][7]

Although not physically gifted, Forge was strong for his size and weight. He displayed desire and toughness in nearly everything he did and was incredibly competitive and driven to succeed. These qualities made him a lifetime member of the Corps. His training and discipline had left him with a "unique" personality and method of getting things done. Those under his command trusted him greatly, despite the fact that he failed his last psychological exam.[9]

Forge was a born warrior but had difficulty coping with life outside the military. His wife was a distant shadow in his mind, but his daughter had never really given up on him, though it had been only months since they had talked. Forge has been decorated numerous times for valor and gallantry on the battlefield, but just as many counts for insubordination, conduct unbecoming, and striking a superior officer.[8][1]

He spent 2.4 years in prison, an infraction that removed any chance of moving through Officer Candidate School or even progressing beyond the rank of sergeant.[10][1] In 2531, Lieutenant Prosser assaulted a woman in a bar, in which Sergeant Forge stopped and confronted the lieutenant. They engaged in a fist fight, with charges brought upon the sergeant. Luckily for Forge, the woman who had been attacked proclaimed him as a hero and all charges were dropped, where he was later reassigned to the UNSC Spirit of Fire by AdmiralPreston Cole personally.[11][8] Captain James Cutter came to trust Forge so thoroughly that he granted the sergeant a degree of authority significantly exceeding that afforded by his rank.[2]

In February 2531, the Spirit of Fire was sent to assist the crippled Marathon-class heavy cruiserUNSC Prophecy in the Epsilon Indi system. Captain Cutter ordered the Prophecy's navigation database and survivors to be recovered, sending Forge and multiple Marine fireteams on board the vessel while Spirit of Fire engaged several Covenant ships. Forge's Pelican was hit by a Phantom and crash landed upon the Prophecy's hull. Forge and Team Lima breached and entered the Prophecy. Upon entering the cruiser the Marines were attacked by Kig-Yar Rangers. During this engagement Forge's ankle was broken. With the guidance of Serina, Spirit of Fire's AI, he was able to find the a terminal to recover the ship's black box and wipe its navigation core while the rest of Team Lima rescued the ship's survivors. Serina warned Forge that the Prophecy's AI may "act peculiar" due to high radiation levels.[11]

Upon scanning his retina to gain access to the terminal, Forge was halted by the ship's AI, FitzGibbon, who explained he could not allow him to enter due to the latter's poor service record. Forge reminded the AI of the Cole Protocol, stating that he was aboard the vessel to ensure the protocol would not to be violated. FitzGibbon then reluctantly allowed Forge into the terminal room and enabled radiation repair routines. Forge purged the navigation database and returned to the Pelicans as FitzGibbon activated Prophecy's self-destruct sequence, which soon scuttled the ship. After the Marines and Forge escaped with the survivors, they were taken to Spirit of Fire's medical bay. When Forge asked how the survivors were doing, Serina told him that they would all soon die due to all of them suffering extensive radiation poisoning. Forge was angered by the AI's indifference towards the survivors and comforted them in their final moments, believing that even if they would soon be dead, they were still people and so deserved better.[11]

Professor Ellen Anders and Sergeant Forge in the Relic on Harvest.

Forge was sent to the surface of Harvest on his first mission to scout out Covenant activity in the northern polar region of the planet. He drove through Quadrant 4 to find a battalion of Sangheili that an AV-14 Hornet squadron had spotted earlier.[6] Reporting the Covenant activity to his superiors, as to how the aliens had found a a Forerunner structure buried within the ice, he returned to an overrun UNSC forward-operating base, designated as Alpha Base, and helped organize scattered Marine units along the way.[12] Forge and his rag-tag assault force were able to retake Alpha Base a short-time later. Before the Relic was demolished by the Covenant, the Forerunner site is captured by Forge and Marine forces. Professor Ellen Anders was then sent to the planet's surface to personally investigate the relic, and Forge reluctantly escorted her inside.[13] He was present when Anders activated a Forerunner holographic projection of a star map, and protected her when they were ambushed by a team of Sangheili warriors. The Spirit of Fire then evacuated most of its ground troops, including Forge, and set course for Arcadia, a UNSC colony planet to which the star map had pointed.[14]

After arriving at Arcadia, Forge was one of the first UNSC troops to set foot in the besieged capital of Pirth City, where he aided the evacuation of civilians via three cargo vessels. When the civilian transports took off, Forge and his men abandoned the besieged city, and fell back to the outskirts.[15] There, he took part in the destruction of a nearby Covenant base, assisted by Spartan teams Red and Omega.[16] He also participated in the battle to destroy a Covenant energy dome,[17] which was protecting an unfinished Type-29 Scarab. After a short battle, the UNSC forces succeeded in destroying the Scarab.[18] While he and Anders were surveying the area, Ripa 'Moramee, an Arbiter, ambushed them. Forge was swiftly defeated and was about to be executed, until Anders stopped the Arbiter by agreeing to go with him without incident. After Spartan Red Team's unsuccessful attempt to stop the Arbiter from escaping, they immediately retreated back to the Spirit of Fire. He was aboard the ship when it made a slipspace jump in pursuit of 'Moramee's retreating vessel.[19]

"Son, I've a feeling before this is over, we'll need every last Spartan in the fight. I can do this. Report back to the ship."

—Forge to Jerome-092 deciding to stay behind

After Jerome-092 recommended destroying 'Moramee's ship and killing Anders rather than let classified information fall into Covenant hands, Forge confronted the Spartan. The altercation resulted in a broken chair, a seal malfunction on a bulkhead and a stern interruption from Serina. From then on, Forge and Jerome always ate together in the mess hall.[20]

Upon arriving at a mysterious planet, Forge was sent down to the planet's surface, and was subsequently one of the first human beings to encounter the Flood.[21] It was soon discovered that the "planet" was not a planet at all, but a Forerunner Shield World. Immediately following this revelation, he was put in charge of the evacuation of the Spirit's ground troops and the decontamination of Flood from the ship's external hull.[22] Through an amazing stroke of luck, he came upon the recently escaped Ellen Anders in the Shield World's interior, and escorted her back to the Spirit of Fire.[23]

Forge after killing Ripa 'Moramee.

He was then put in charge of the strike team that would deliver the Spirit 's Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine to the Apex Site, to destroy the Shield World and its armada of Forerunner dreadnoughts.[24] Atop the Apex, he once again faced 'Moramee in battle, while the Spartans of Red Team eliminated the Arbiter's comrades. Although Forge was nearly killed, he overcame his foe at the last minute by tricking the Arbiter to look him in the eye, and then stabbing him in the neck with his prized combat knife, "Lucy". He then proceeded to pick up the Arbiter's energy sword, and drove it through the Sangheili's stomach, killing him. As Alice-130 rolled the Arbiter's corpse off the platform, Jerome examined the engine, realizing that it had been damaged in the fight.[25]

When it became clear that the damaged Translight Engine would have to be detonated manually, Forge realized that the SPARTANs would play a far greater role in the war than he ever could, and volunteered to take the FTL drive into the Shield World's sun. He gave the Spirit's crew the time they needed to escape the hollow planet and then detonated the drive, sacrificing his own life, but dealing the Covenant a massive blow in the process.[25]

He has nine Legendary symbols on his right breast plate. This could be a tally of enemy kills of some sort. It may also be a count of battles he has fought in or won.

While on foot, Forge will occasionally shout "Yipee-kai-yay!" in reference to protagonist John McClane's catchphrase from the Die Hard film series.

Forge's death was notably similar to that of Spartan Jorge-052. Both died by manually detonating slipspace drives that had been converted to bombs in order to end a Covenant threat, having to stay behind because the bomb was damaged and would not detonate autonomously at the right time. They both voluntarily gave their lives to save a Spartan: Jerome-092 in Forge's case and SPARTAN-B312's in Jorge's. This similarity has been noted on Halo Waypoint.[26]

Jerome-092 occasionally addresses Forge as "Sir" in cutscenes despite outranking the sergeant by three grades.[2][27]

Halo Wars lead writer Graeme Devine described a brief outline of how Halo Wars would have continued. The core of Shield 0459 transported Forge to another location in space, and thus saving him from the shield world's destruction. Anders, who had programmed to release herself from her cryochamber shortly after Cutter entered cryostasis, followed Forge's signal and directed UNSC Spirit of Fire to his location. After three years, one hundred and seven days, Cutter was awakened by Serina, Anders and Forge.[28]